They Will Be Going After Kamala Harris From Day 1

A woman of color is in close proximity to the highest office

A woman of color is the Vice-President of the United States.

Who would have imagined that it was possible? Yet here we are with our first African-American, Asian-American, female Vice President.

The racists have already given us a preview of what’s to come after President Biden and Vice President Harris take office. It’s not about President Biden and what he does in office but much of the focus and attacks will be about the woman of color who is second in command.

Ex-President Trump, without hiding the ball, gave us a preview of the coming attacks on the current Vice President. With Trump, the racism and sexism couldn’t be hidden. He represents what his followers think and believe and he expresses it without any hesitation. The benefit is that he puts the racism out there loud and clear, for all of us to see.

During the campaign, Trump referred to Kamala Harris as, “the meanest, the most horrible, the most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate.” He also referred to her as a “monster” and called her a “nasty woman”.

Throughout the campaign, Trump kept referring to Biden as a seat-filler and threatened the American public with a President Harris. Trump made attacks on Biden’s health and alluded to the possibility of Kamala Harris becoming President, as if this is was the most terrifying thing America could experience.

A Virginia Republican mayor’s initial take on the nomination of Kamala Harris as the Vice President? Mayor Barry Presgraves of Luray, Virginia, wrote on his Facebook page that Joe Biden had just nominated “Aunt Jemima” as his running mate.

A former Republican Senate candidate in California questioned Harris’s eligibility to run for office in this Newsweek piece during the campaign. John Eastman’s op-ed questioned who was a natural-born citizen and if Harris was one, allowing her to run for office. He questioned if Harris’s parents were permanent residents at her birth, qualifying her as a US citizen and eligible to run for office but disqualifying her from office if her parents were on student or other temporary visas. This type of writing in this Newsweek article became the beginning of birtherism arguments against Kamala Harris.

Every move scrutinized through the lens of race and gender

The ex-President and others have laid the groundwork of what’s to come. Similar to what they did to President Obama, the right will not go after Harris’s work or policy. They will stay away from her legislation and her politics. They won’t attack her for her work and her leadership.

Instead, they’ll do what they did to President Obama. They will question her identity and existence. They will question her parental lineage, her ancestry, her birth location, and her citizenship. They will raise doubts and inuendos about how American she really is and suggest that she go back to wherever she came from.

Many will make racist attacks against her because she is African American. Others will attack her for her South Asian roots and being a woman of Asian descent. They will question her mother’s heritage and citizenship. They will ask about her mother’s immigration status and inquire about her birth. Yet others will claim that she’s not African American enough because her father is originally from Jamaica and question her identity as an American altogether.

The racists will look at Harris’s every action and word through the lens of race and her gender. They will look at her every idea through the prism of her skin color. They will look at her role on the international stage through the lens of her mother’s heritage.

The attacks on Vice President Harris will be motivated by her race and her gender. She will be talked about, criticized and attacked much more than the white male President sitting in the White House. President Biden is not a threat to the right but Harris is an existential threat to white nationalists and racists. They will not tolerate a woman of color in the White House if they can help it, in their lifetimes.

Doing and saying anything

Let’s get ready for a season of direct and in your face racism that is no longer hidden behind closed doors. The right will use the same playbook that they used on our former President of color. They essentially tried to delegitimize President Obama by claiming he was not a U.S. citizen so was in office illegally.

They’ve already sowed the seeds of mistrust, doubt and illegality on the Vice-President by calling into question the legitimacy of her and Joe Biden winning. For the past three months, the ex-President has questioned, bullied, lied, and made up absurd claims about the election being stolen from him by Ms. Harris and Mr. Biden.

Half of the American public already believes that Vice President Harris stole an election and is there illegitimately. This is just the beginning of the groundwork for the attacks on her. What can you do and say to someone who is not legally entitled to their position? What can you claim of someone who stole an election and got elected improperly?

Just about anything.

A time to rally around Vice President Harris

Let’s buckle up and prepare for the unprecedented attack on an accomplished woman of color sitting next to the highest office in the land. Let’s prepare for the overt and subtle attacks on Vice President’s race, heritage, and gender.

Kamala Harris is going to need the entire country rallying around her for the next four years to battle the racist and sexist attacks that are going to be lobbed her way.

The scariest thing for male chauvinists and white supremacists is Kamala Harris, the current Vice President of the United States. The only thing scarier to them is her moving into the White House.

Do you think Kamala Harris will be given a fair opportunity or Vice President or attacked because of her race and gender? Please leave a comment below.